Hindi Poetry

            Some More Hindi Poems 

            and Their English Versions

1

2

3

4

5

                   1

LET THEM FLY AWAY

Let them grow wings

So that

Spreading them

They can fly

In the open blue sky

I know there is danger

In their attempting to measure

Its unfathomable depths

They can lose their way

And wander aimless

In its boundless expanse

They can burn their wings

Trying to reach the sun

But do not stop them

Let them fly away
         ---

             2

CONTRASTS

Your huge magnificent palace

Persian carpets on white marble

Soft, soft cushions caressing your back

Paintings bejewelling the walls

Your air-conditioner

Taming the June heat

With its steady feline purr

And your speech

Soft suave civilized -

Do they all prove

That my fifty-year long

Ordinary man’s life

Lined with denials

From end to end

Has been meaningless?

           ---

        3

EACH  DAY

Every morning

People of this city

Set their homes ablaze

And flee

And every evening

After burning their dead

They retreat

Defeated

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                 4

AN OLD PHOTOGRAPH

In this photograph

This little girl

With her doll

Still looks like a chick

Stepping out of its egg-shell

I bought this book

Years ago

Now it’s old and yellow

Like a falling leaf

And my face

Watching this girl

A dry furrowed field

             ---

              5

THIS HOUSEWIFE

Enclosed within these walls
Of relationships

She often wonders

If ever that piece of the blue sky

Visible beyond the window panes

Could have been hers

Where she could fly like a bird

Her wings spread out…
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